Host Fungi and Feeding Habits of Ciidae (Coleoptera) in a Subtropical Rainforest in Southern Brazil, with an Overview of Host Fungi of Neotropical Ciids

Ciids or minute tree-fungus beetles (Coleoptera: Ciidae) are amongst the most abundant and speciose fungivorous beetles. They spend most of their lives in or around polypore basidiomes, which are used as a food resource and shelter by larvae and adults. The study of Neotropical ciids is incipient and there is no comprehensive work on their host fungi. The present work provides a descriptive analysis of the Ciidae fauna, its feeding habits and polypore hosts at a subtropical rainforest in São Francisco de Paula, southern Brazil. A discussion on the current knowledge of host fungi of Neotropical Ciidae is also provided. Polypore basidiomes were collected in field trips carried out monthly from Aug 2006 to Mar 2007 and kept in the laboratory for up to 3 mo, while adult beetles were continuously captured from them. Basidiomes of 376 individual fungi were collected, comprising a total of 40 species. Among these, 152 individual fungi of 33 species had ciid beetles. Twenty-one species of ciids were recognized among 233 emergent adults. Only 1 ciid species was considered monophagous, 6 were considered oligophagous, and 6 polyphagous. Eight ciid species had less than 5 occurrences, and thus could not be included in any category. There is empirical evidence, from data provided or compiled herein, indicating that some morphologically similar Ciidae species, usually comprising a species group, frequently use the same or closely related species of fungi as the host. This is the first faunistic study on Ciidae and their host fungi in the Neotropical region.